


when the world is burning (don't walk away)

by VolxdoSioda



Series: Whumptober 2018 (Complete) [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Day 6 - Betrayed, Forced kisses, Hurt/No Comfort, M/M, Noctis Whump, Obsession, Whumptober, bad touch Drautos, non-con kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 12:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16219292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: Titus has waited an eternity for this fight.





	when the world is burning (don't walk away)

**Author's Note:**

> A word of warning before we get started.
> 
> I have not watched Kingsglaive. I don't know Titus' character. The only thing I know is what the wiki offered me of his character, and some of what went down during the movie. One day I will probably watch the movie, but today is not that day. 
> 
> Also - mind the tags.

"Un'ca Tee!" A child's voice raises itself amidst the quiet murmuring of the Council in the throne room, and Titus turns his head, already know who's coming towards him. When a tiny weight wraps itself around his knee, he can't stop an indulgent smile from crossing his face. 

"Nephew, what have I told you about interrupting the meetings?" Nevertheless, he hoists Noctis' tiny form up to his hip, the boy giggling up at him. Not a moment later, a hassled-looking maid rounds the corner, dipping into a curtsy.

"Apologies sirs, His Royal Highness decided a nap was not on the schedule today."

Regis makes a faintly amused sound from where he sits on the throne, watching Noctis and Titus. "Not sleepy, my darling?"

"No!" Noctis yells, and tucks himself firmer against Titus. "No! Un'ca Tee, no!"

"I do believe he's demanding you tell them there will be no nap today," Clarus remarks dryly. "Well, now we know who the favorite is."

"Oh dear," Regis says, turning to his Shield. "Is someone feeling jealous?"

Clarus sniffs haughtily. "Iris still likes me."

"Yes, but she's coming up on the Terrible Twos, my friend."

"So's Noctis! So what does that say about you, eh Regis?"

The Council members are watching the show go on with undisguised interest and amusement. Noctis pouts, looking up at Titus with trusting blue eyes that never fails to make the cold black thing he calls a heart thud painfully in his chest. 

He shuts the thought down before it can be allowed to grow. He shouldn't allow himself to get attached; this is all going to be temporary, after all. Once Aldercapt gets Regis where he wants him--

"Un'ca Tee?" Noctis asks, tilting his head like an inquisitive chocobo chick. Titus realizes he's been looking down at the boy without saying anything for a time. He blinks, and shakes his head a little. 

"It's nap time, little Prince." He goes to hand Noctis back to the maid, but the boy begins to flail, and Titus instead has to tighten his grip, lest he accidentally drop his precious cargo.

"No!" Noctis shrieks, furious. "No, no, no!"

Titus hushes him, well-familiarized with the boy's fits of temper. Every day that passed, he grew a little more, became a little wiser, a little less a target, and more a person. 

A person that Glauca will have to destroy one day, if Aldercapt's past speeches about 'erasing bloodlines' is anything to go by.

"None of that, now," Titus orders, and Noctis sniffles, moving straight from temper to tears in an effort to sway the audience at hand. Such a manipulative little creature he is. It's just unfortunate that Titus deals with tempers and tears on a daily basis with the recruits, and has seen it all before. "You know better."

"Want Un'ca Tee," Noctis sulks. 

Titus clicks his tongue. "Take your nap first. And I don't mean merely closing your eyes and lying down, either. You are to  _sleep._ And then we will go for our walk. You still like our walks, don't you?"

He knows Noctis loves them. It might have started off as a way to get Noctis to wear himself down enough to sleep in the evenings, but now it's been going on long enough to where if he doesn't get his walk, Noctis gets cranky, and will let everyone in the Citadel know with great vigor.

Sure enough, the tears dry up almost immediately. "Want walk!"

"Nap first," Titus orders. "Then we will walk."

Noctis moves straight to his signature pout, the one that has Regis immediately bending over backwards to give him anything and everything, and even has Clarus and Cor halting in their tracks. Titus merely holds him steady, and raises an eyebrow, waiting patiently for the toddler to give in.

It doesn't take long. Noctis drops the pout, and grudgingly holds out his arms to the maid, who takes him with a grateful look and a mouthed 'thank you'. Titus bows his head, and waves goodbye to Noctis over the young lady's shoulder as she leaves the room. 

"Well," Regis says at last. "That went well. Are you sure you're not a father, Titus?"

"No," Titus replies dryly, "I just lead your Glaives, but at this point it isn't that much of a difference."

Clarus laughs at that, even as Regis shoots him an affronted look. Titus just tilts his head, and the talks about what to do about Niflheim's recent move resume without much fanfare.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

General Glauca is feared the world over. There is no city, no capital, no place that has not heard of the monster's feats, of the death in armor that sweeps down over the masses when Niflheim gives it the leave to do so. When Aldercapt orders Glauca to the field, it means destruction. It means the death of monarchs. It means the unmaking of empires.

Twelve years ago, Titus Drautos pledged himself to Regis Lucis Caelum. He pledged to stand by the man in life and in death, to serve, to guide, to protect. Nobody who has ever seen him work would deny his loyalty to Regis or to Noctis. Nobody who has seen the way his Glaives move and strike, bend without breaking, would deny his capabilities as leader. 

Nobody who has seen or met Titus Drautos would ever suspect him of being Glauca. 

But it who he is. Who he became, twenty years ago, when he lost his family to Niflheim. When his world crumbled. And when he became Aldercapt's man, he was given the order to get as close as possible to Regis, to place himself by the man's heart and prepare himself for the day he would take aim with his blade, and bring the Lucis Caelum line down to its knees.

Insomnia will fall. There is no question to it. 

But there is time yet, time before the Magitek is ready, time before the army is ready, time before Aldercapt has all the pieces in place.

Time enough to unravel Regis from the inside out, to dismantle the Glaives piece by piece, and to toy with the Prince. 

After all, what could bring a father more pain than watching his son die choking on his own life blood?

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

When Noctis is eight, Titus saves him from a Marilith attack.

He's known the Marilith would be there, of course. Aldercapt's been upset the past months since his attempts to get the King of Insomnia to lower his guard have gone unrewarded; the Marilith is meant to be a warning. Titus watches silently in the trees above as Noctis' retinue is cut down left and right, the young Prince himself sobbing, attempting to crawl away despite his fearsome injury. An injury that will likely cripple the boy, and heavily damage any latent magical abilities that will crop up later. Two birds with one stone, as it were.  

He waits as the Marilith creeps ever closer, as Noctis' sobs get quieter, and his struggles lessen. What becomes of the Marilith after now is no real matter of importance - it's done its job. Noctis has been sufficiently weakened, and Regis will suffer knowing his son is so hurt. If it cripples the boy, all the better for it. It means Glauca has an easy kill later. 

For now however, Regis is unaware his son is in danger. He's at a meeting right now, thinking Noctis and his retinue safe. Things will swiftly change, however. Starting...

_Now._

Drautos leaps high into the air, plunging down in a cunning warp-strike, his blade aimed for the Marilith's heart as he releases the invisibility spell coating him. The Marilith dies screaming, its hideous body cut in two, and Titus, his face appropriately arranged in shock and terror, runs for the young Prince, skidding to his side and hefting the dead woman half-covering Noctis with her body away. "Noctis? Noctis, can you hear me? Open your eyes, nephew, look at me!"

"Uncle?" Noctis whispers, and then his face twists, and fresh tears stream down his face as Noctis seizes him in weak hands. "Uncle Titus, I-I--"

"Hush now darling, be silent, be still, I have you. All is well. I have you." He pulls his cape off, and uses it to bandage the worst of the bleeding. The entire time he murmurs reassurances, and Noctis clings and cries. 

"Uncle, it hurts," Noctis whimpers, and Titus presses a kiss to his temple. 

"I know, I know. Hold tight to me,  Noctis. We're going to get you somewhere safe, alright? Arms around my neck now, there we are. Good lad." He doesn't glance back at the bodies as he darts between them, using one hand to keep Noctis close to him as he warps away.

They  make it all the way back inside Insomnia's walls before Noctis speaks again, in a quiet, trembling voice. "They all died... trying to protect me."

Titus pauses from where he's reaching to call the Glaives to him, and make the announcement of Noctis' life being in danger. He thinks very carefully. It would be so easy to dismiss Noctis' words, to ignore them. 

 _But why not twist the barb?_ Glauca asks, and so Titus does.

"Such is to be your life, Noctis. Before all else, the Lucis Caelums come first. I know it's hard, but you must not dwell on it. Now, hold still. My Glaives will be with us shortly, and we will see to that wound."

The Glaives set off the alarm, and soon Titus can feel the King's magic through his own connection, a sharp spike of terror followed by a wash of red rage and worry. In his arms, Noctis has fallen unconscious. Titus bows his head, pressing his mouth to the crown of the Prince's head.

This is how his Glaives find him, clutching the Prince close, head bowed as though in grief, for all that Titus' eyes burn when they open. The Prince is taken from him, and Regis follows closely, face white as the healers rattle off numbers and orders. 

Later that night, Clarus finds him. 

"Thank you," he says without preamble, and Titus blinks at him. "Regis has called on the Fleuret family from Tenebrae. Rumor holds Sylvia is an accomplished healer in matters like this - the Marilith's claws were tainted."

"Oh?" Titus asks, as if he doesn't already know that. 

"Without additional aid, he might not walk again. And there's no telling what will happen to his magic later on. But -- without your arrival today, we might not have even made it this far.  Both Regis and I are grateful to you, Drautos."

"It was no trouble," Titus murmurs. "I hope our beloved Prince recovers safely."

Clarus leaves not long after that, and Titus goes to send a message to the Emperor.

After all, it wouldn't  _do_ for Regis to regain hope just yet, now would it?

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Fenestala Manor is too open, too unguarded. It's child's play to break necks, to snap spines, to waltz in with a few dozen guards and start taking over.

Regis' famous cowardice returns even as Glauca runs Sylvia through with his sword, relishing in her scream of agony, in Ravus' cry and Noctis' scream.

 _Especially Noctis' scream._ Glauca gets eyes on the little Prince, and  _oh,_ what a wonderful sight it is. His boy, bound, but his eyes burning with anger and fear. So much fear. Will he cry now, Glauca wonders, stepping closer as Sylvia's body drops from his sword. Will he weep those pretty tears again?

Regis steps in before he can find out, grabbing Noctis up into his arms, and trying to take Lunafreya too. But the little Oracle's loyalty to blood is stronger than her sense of safety, and so she lets go of Regis' hand, and she and Ravus are captured along with Tenebrae that day.

Titus thinks on this moment later, and realizes it is the moment he doesn't simply desire to destroy Insomnia and her people, to kill off Regis and his spawn. No, it's much more than that.

It is  _Noctis_ who he desires to see hurt above all else. Such a fascinating thing, the boy's tears are, and how he holds anger even though he doesn't understand what's going on, not really. Only that there is an invasion, and he can no longer see little Luna.

Titus hears about it later, after returning from a mission where he set several of the nosier Glaives up to be killed off by monsters. Regis looks older than he ever has, wearier too, as he explains the situation. Explains how Noctis has clammed up, and refuses to leave his room. Even Ignis can't draw him out.

"I know I ask too much as is," Regis says. "But will you see if he won't open up to you?"

Titus bows. "I will see what I can do. I offer no promises."

"Even an attempt is enough. Thank you, Titus."

He makes sure to get himself under control before reaching the Prince's door, to become that protective, caring uncle Noctis trusts so implicitly. "Noctis? I'm taking a walk through the gardens, would you like to come with me?"

He waits, listening. He can pick up the creak of the bed, and the soft patter of footsteps - slow, as if dragging. Noctis is only half-healed, after all. Oddly, the idea of the boy being crippled is no longer entertaining as it once was. An easy victory won't do - he wants his boy to  _fight._

Eventually, Noctis opens the door, and peers up at Titus. His blue eyes have gone grey with sadness, and Titus kneels before him. "A little bird told me of what happened. I'm sorry I could not be there for you today."

Noctis sniffles. "Dad said you were on an important mission."

"Yes. But that doesn't mean I don't wish I couldn't have been by your side, instead." He reaches out, offering his hand, and as always, Noctis takes it. So trusting. "Would you like to walk?"

"My hip kinda hurts." 

He  _is_ favoring his leg. Titus merely says, "Then I shall carry you."

Noctis pauses at that, thinking it over before eventually nodding, and reaching out, wrapping small arms around Titus's neck, Titus easily hefting him up against his chest. 

It's so strange, this desire to break Noctis down, to see him cry and scream when it's just as simple to fold the boy up close to him and offer him protection, and mean it. The child does strange things to him, pushing him into a duality of his own nature. He wants to harm Noctis, and will tolerate no other  _besides him_ harming Noctis. 

Over the course of the next few hours, Titus walks steady circles through the garden, and in a halting speech, Noctis tells him what occurred at the manor.  About the great man in armor he saw, the one who killed Lady Sylvia. 

"I know you said I shouldn't dwell on it," Noctis confides. "But I can't get the image out of my head. I keep seeing it happen, and I don't want to sleep, because I know I'll go back there, to that place."

"Are you afraid?" Titus asks. 

"Yes," Noctis says. "Very."

"Would you like to hear something that might make you a little less afraid?"

"What's that?"

"Beneath that suit of armor is a man like any other. And men, Noctis, can be killed. Very easily, if the circumstances are right for it. You can't stop death from happening around you - but one day you might grow strong enough to strike back at those who killed those you love."

Noctis says nothing to that, growing quiet against his chest, and so Titus takes one last lap around the garden and then heads back inside. He settles Noctis down on his bed, smoothing his hair back. The hour has grown late.

"Uncle?"

He turns at the door. "Yes, nephew?"

"Thank you."

Titus smiles. "Anytime, my dear."

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

Over the years, Titus keeps watch over Noctis. Guards him as he grows, trains him, teaches him to fight back. Harshly pushes him to better himself, so when the day finally comes that Noctis' empire comes crumbling down around his ears, Glauca will have the fight he so desires. And with every push, every soft word between them, the softness planted as a seed within him grows as well as his desire to rip the boy apart. 

It culminates when Noctis hits puberty. When one day during training he's barking orders, and Noctis is stumbling around, panting, sweating, exhausted from warping and trying to find a weak spot in Titus' armor - and it occurs to him that Noctis is about his height now. A little smaller still, but almost there. 

And then he really  _looks,_ and oh. Noctis has grown up well, despite all the wrenches Niflheim's thrown at him. He's all lean muscle, pale as the stars, and dangerously quick. Despite Titus' sharp words, there is nothing disappointing about him or his fighting prowess on any battlefield. He's long since learned that when he fights Drautos, he fights not to survive, but to conquer.

Maybe that's when the urges start. When the dreams truly take root, and Titus finds himself torn between a desire to crack Noctis' ribs open and crawl inside his skin, and blister him, tear him apart limb by limb, eat his heart and make all that pale flesh his property. He's caught between desire and destruction, and no punishment, no hell could be so sweet. 

For Noctis still allows him all the soft touches, the safety of his presence, the pet names that nobody so much as bats an eye at anymore. He's been calling the Crown Prince  _beloved, dearest, darling, my heart_ since the boy was a toddler, carrying him around on his hip, Noctis crying out for his walks and fighting naps. And Regis should be looking at matches now, looking for pretty young wives to wrap Noctis in, and Noctis should be looking at girls or young men, but all he ever seems to look at is Titus. 

And Titus wants.  _Oh,_ how he wants.

But the want is banked by duty, by Ardyn  _fucking_ Izunia whispering in Aldercapt's ear about offering peace terms through a marriage, and so that is how Titus comes to know of Noctis' engagement to Lady Lunafreya Nox Fleuret.

He smiles, and says, "It's a good match, Regis. And it will get Noctis away."

Regis is no fool, after all. He knows the hand he's been dealt. The fate of Insomnia. These are not terms of peace they are being offered. Titus wouldn't necessarily call what he feels for Regis in this moment respect, but it is something close to it. 

It won't save him, and it won't save Noctis, but it is there, all the same.

 

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 

And at long last, the day finally comes when Insomnia falls. When Glauca steps out of the shell he has worn for more than twenty years, and slaughters all those who stand between Aldercapt and the Crystal. His Glaives break so prettily, so easily - although Nyx fights him to the last breath of air. Titus can admit, out of all of them, he'll miss that one. Nyx was a spitfire of a man, and had he been on the Empire's side, Titus would have gladly called him brother. But he stands for Regis, for Insomnia, for the Lucis Caelums, and so he dies alone, Glauca's sword spilling soft intestines all over the floor. 

Regis falls just as bitterly, fighting all the way down. And when at last the old man falls, it feels like a loss, rather than a victory. The hunt, the chase was thrilling, and now to lose all that is a bitter taste. Perhaps its because Lady Lunafreya has fled with the Ring, leaving his victory incomplete. No matter - he will have time to hunt her later, and he will rip her apart just as he did her mother. Her screams will be a delight to listen to, and her brother's agony will keep him going for days.

This entire time, he has been under the impression Noctis has left. But it is not the case, he soon finds. Noctis is still in Insomnia, still in the Citadel, and he's fighting back wave after wave of soldiers with such ease that it stops Titus drawing breath for a moment. 

The desire surges then, hotter than ever before, and he's moving before he's aware, stepping across the battlefield and warping to meet Noctis blade-to-blade. Up so close, he can see the blood on his boy's body, the various wounds he's sustained, the blaze of rage in his eyes. He's gorgeous, and Titus can't decide if he wants to fuck the boy into the wall and hear him scream in ecstasy, or plunge his sword into the boy's heart and listen to his howls of rage.

Noctis settles the decision for him, and warps away, and proceeds to put everything Titus has taught him into work. 

It's just a shame Titus knows all the tricks he throws, and avoids them easily. But oh, such a magnificent spirit Noctis brings to be broken. He's craved this day for forever, and this is starting to turn out better than he dreamed. 

He's so busy focusing on what he's going to do when he inevitably knocks Noctis down for good he allows his opponent a lucky hit - one that splits his helm open. It should be a moment of terror for Drautos, but all he does is smile as the helm hits the ground.

Noctis stumbles back, mouth falling open, eyes going wide with disbelief. "No," he says. And just like Regis, he shakes his head. "No,  _no._ "

Titus smiles the smile of an uncle, and a predator all in one. "Come now, my darling, that plea didn't work before, do you truly think it's going to work now?"

" _You son of a bitch!"_ Noctis roars, and warps.

Titus laughs, and meets him strike for strike. The dance between them burns hotter now, as Noctis fights with a fury he didn't have before.

"Tell me," Titus taunts as they clash. "Did you ever imagine your favorite uncle was behind that mask? That he was the one who orchestrated the Marilith even as he saved you from her clutches? That he was the one who killed Lady Sylvia to see you weep, even as I comforted you and told you not to dwell on the deaths of those around you? Did you ever imagine, even for a moment, that I was going to take everything you loved from you even as I taught you how to fight the monsters of your youth, Noctis?"

" _SHUT UP!"_ Noctis screams, and his swings turn erratic, almost berserker-like in their rage. "I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!"

He's gotten sloppy, so Titus swats the sword out of his hand, and puts the tip of his own to that pale throat, relishing how even like this, Noctis' gaze still burns. He still looks ready to throw a punch, to fight. 

"Oh sweetheart," Titus croons. "You've grown up so beautifully. Look at you. Ready to wage war over nothing. Outmatched, outmaneuvered at the very heart of your precious city, but you're still ready to throw down." He presses a smidgen more, and watches the blood well up as the tip of his sword pierces skin, the crimson line that trickles down. 

"I'll kill you, Drautos," Noctis hisses. "One way or another, no matter how long it takes me."

"I imagine you will. Well, if your strength holds out. After all, there are a thousand and one ways to break a man, and not all of them involve torture." He reaches out, runs a gauntlet gently over Noctis' cheek. The boy stiffens, snarling wordlessly at his touch. 

Such a little hellcat, his boy. But with enough time, he can be brought down from his rage. Made pliable and soft, open to Drautos' desires, and his own. 

Though he can admit, there's an allure to letting him go. Letting him run, and regain his strength versus trapping him here and now. It's really a choice of patience.

Or perhaps, of fate.

" _Highness!"_

Ignis Scientia's voice echoes through the chambers, barely heard beneath the hum of something flying. Chances are good Scientia and the other two have stolen one of the fliers to whisk their Prince away in. 

Noctis' gaze darts out the window, and Titus can see him trying to think of a way out. He's not thinking of fighting now, but of escape, Scientia's voice acting once more as cold logic.

That, more than anything, is what decides it. Titus smiles, and pulls his blade back. "Your company awaits, little Prince. You shouldn't keep them waiting. It's rude."

He turns to go, and he knows as he does Noctis is going to take a shot at his back. He's taught his boy too well to ignore an opening when it's available.

And just as expected, he warps for Drautos' open back, aiming to plunge his sword in. Drautos whirls, catching his blade with his own and slamming him into the wall hard enough to make him gasp, his sword clattering to the ground once more. Titus doesn't hesitate, because here now is the last chance at a taste of his to-be victory he will get, and so he steps forward and  _takes._

Noctis fights the kiss, struggles and hits and bites even as Drautos presses harder against him, holds one hand against his throat and grinds his hips up, relishing in the rush of heat between them. Something like a broken moan stutters its way out of Noctis' throat before long, and Drautos presses him harder, and thinks of all the wonderous ways he's going to ruin his beloved Prince one day. 

For now, however, this hunt will go on. 

He steps back, licking his lips, eyes raking over the mess of bruises and bites he will leave in his wake. "Go," he orders, and turns again.

This time, the only thing he hears is the clatter of footsteps as Noctis runs away, and something he realizes is a soft sob right before a helicopter swoops down, and Ignis yanks Noctis aboard and flies off without so much as a backward glance. 

Glauca returns to Aldercapt's side, dragging a body disguised as the Prince along. Aldercapt is furious that the line of Lucis is dead, if only because it means there is no one left to control the Crystal. Ardyn frowns hard at him, but says nothing. 

He has bought time for the Prince. Eventually, Aldercapt will learn of his deception, but by that point it likely won't matter to him - the fight he has desired has come and gone, and he has what he wants. All he needs to do now is wait.

Eventually, he will see his boy again.


End file.
